July 2014 | Issue 59 Regional | Health/Knowledge Sharing

Industrial toxic wastes from artisanal and legacy industrial sites, e.g.,
those from informal businesses or closed factories, pose serious
health risks but are often not prioritized by governments because
it is difcult to hold the polluters accountable for the cleanup. An
NGO, Blacksmith Institute, proposed to assess the magnitude of the
problem in countries across Asia and the Pacifc, and to work with
communities and governments to plan and implement mitigation
eforts.
A frst step was to identify and assess these artisanal and legacy
pollution sites. From this work, a toxic sites database was developed
and sites were categorized and prioritized by level of impact and cost-
efectiveness of mitigation measures.
The regional inventory of polluted sites led to better information
and higher awareness among policy makers and development
partners about the scope of, and possible solutions to the problem.
Communities and governments throughout the region are benefting
from this knowledge as an advocacy tool and as a roadmap for
cleanup actions.
Knowledge Database
Helps Policy Makers
Identify and Assess
Toxic Waste Hot Spots
BACKGROUND
Serious Health Risks. Around 200 million people are routinely
exposed to toxic pollution in developing countries. Toxic substances
are known to shorten life spans and cause cancers, respiratory
diseases, stomach and skin lesions, and psychiatric disorders. Their
adverse impacts are particularly severe on children as toxic wastes
retard mental and physical development. Population-wide drops in
intelligence levels can severely hinder national economies.
Wastes from the chemical, metallurgical, and processing sectors
contain toxic substances such as heavy metals, solvents, and organic
compounds. Illegal dump sites of these wastes can be found in
urban and suburban areas, leaking chemical toxins which pollute
water supplies and enter the food chain. Artisanal industries such
as tanneries and stainless steel factories also pollute groundwater
with cancer-causing hexavalent chromium.
1
Many residents around
these industries rely on groundwater for their only source of drinking
water. Informal and unregulated battery processing facilities likewise
pollute urban areas with lead.
Compounding the Risks. Weak government regulations and
enforcement aggravate the adverse efects of toxic pollutants.
Governments and communities fnd it challenging to hold
small-scale, informal polluters and those who vacated toxic sites
accountable for cleanup costs. In addition, until recently, the
scale of the problem was unknown. There was little systematic
information gathering on the scale of the problem, the site-specifc
magnitude of economic and health impacts, or the cleanup costs.
Worse, countries generally lack funding and technical know-how to
counter these challenges.
Toxic waste sites can be cleaned up and active polluters can be
stopped through a mix of regulation, community education, and
use of alternative and modern technologies. But frst, in order to
prioritize action, these sites must be identifed and assessed, and
the technology and costs for cleanup need to be estimated.
APPROACH
Scoping the Problem. The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
partnered with the Blacksmith Institute in building capacity in Asian
countries to develop a knowledge base on the location, toxicity, and
health impacts of these sites. ADB also wanted to determine the
most cost-efective methods and estimate the costs of remedying
the sites negative health impacts. This was done through a regional
policy and advisory technical assistance (R-PATA) project approved
on 1 December 2009.
2
The R-PATA supported the Asia and Pacifc component of the
Global Inventory Project that operated from February 2009 to
December 2010 with the goal of identifying toxic waste sites in
more than 80 countries where pollution poses the greatest threat
to human health.
3
The main objective was to provide data to
governments, international organizations, and local communities to
enable them to prioritize cleanup activities and programs. The next
step was the identifcation of appropriate mechanisms, including
regional funding, to help clean up the toxic sites.
Mobilizing National Teams. Blacksmith trained teams of local
specialists to identify and assess toxic waste sites in their respective
countries. These teams were comprised of experts in the felds of
geology, remediation, and public health. There were also regional
ofces and coordinators that managed the project at the regional
and national levels. In the Philippines, for example, there were
country coordinators and a local team of consultants who served
as investigators. They came from government, civil society, and the
___________________
1
Lungs, kidneys, and intestines are most vulnerable to hexavalent chromium, a highly carcinogenic compound used in making stainless steel, textile
dyes, wood preservation, leather tanning, and anticorrosion coatings.
2
ADB. 2009. Technical Assistance for Improving the Health Status of Vulnerable Communities Threatened by Legacy or Artisanal Pollution. Manila.
www.adb.org/projects/documents/improving-health-status-vulnerable-communities-threatened-legacy-or-artisanal-pol
3
Blacksmith Institute. 2009. The Global Inventory Project. www.blacksmithinstitute.org/blacksmith-institute-to-lead-global-inventory-of-polluted-sites.html
Photo: ADB Photo Library
Toxic pollution can retard childrens mental and physical development.
Highlights
Knowledge Showcases
Asian Development Bank Publication Stock No. ARM146631-2
KNOWLEDGE CONTRIBUTOR
The Knowledge Showcases Series, a product of the Knowledge Sharing and
Services Center, highlights good practices and innovative ideas from ADB technical
assistance and other operations to promote further discussion and research.
www.adb.org/knowledgeshowcases
www.adbknowledgeshowcases.org
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia
and Pacifc region.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily refect the views and policies of ADB or its Board of Governors or the
governments they represent.
Patricia Moser (pmoser@adb.org), lead health
specialist at ADBs Regional and Sustainable
Development Department, was project ofcer
for TA 7395, Improving the Health Status of
Vulnerable Communities Threatened by Legacy
or Artisanal Pollution.
academe. International experts were also commissioned to review
literature on health impacts of common toxic elements in order to
prioritize the sites.
Investigating the Sites. The regional inventory focused on 18
low- and middle-income ADB developing member countries.
Local investigators were hired and trained before conducting
site assessments in 16 of these countries. They made lists of
contaminated sites using existing networks, internet search, and
other research methods. The investigators then collaborated
with Blacksmiths New York-based technical staf to prioritize
sites for physical assessment, determine when the basic physical
characteristics of the sites were gathered, note global positioning
satellite system coordinates, determine when photographs were
taken, and fnd out when sampling data was acquired or when new
sampling was conducted.
In this phase of the project, investigators likewise traced the history
of the site, identifed stakeholders, and determined the estimated
population afected by the toxic sites.
Over the course of the project, 475 contaminated sites were
assesseda signifcant increase over the target output of 243. In
addition, 251 sites identifed by Blacksmith in 2009 prior to the start
of the project were assessed and included in the R-PATA outputs,
bringing the total database number to 726 sites.
The information gathered were lodged in a database that includes
geographic information system coordinates, sampling data regarding
toxic elements, numbers of persons impacted with potential
health risks, and an estimate of the technologies and costs needed
to mitigate the sites toxicity. The estimated health impacts and
remediation costs were used to prioritize sites in the inventory for
government attention.
Culmination. A fnal workshop assembled key country assessors
and government partners in Manila in July 2011. The workshop
report refected the successful completion of the project tasks.
The fnal output, a feasibility study for developing a fnancing
mechanism for cleanup activities, was produced. Blacksmith
was able to use the work undertaken to successfully obtain
an innovation grant to support the further development of an
international fnancing mechanism for remediation eforts.
4
This
mechanism was subsequently called the Health and Pollution Fund.
5

RESULTS
Overall, the project was rated highly successful, exceeding
expectations in cataloging, assessing, prioritizing, and estimating costs
for remediation of critical toxic sites.
The project achieved its policy goals. The Global Inventory Project
was intended for policy makers and has provided a rich source of
information on the potential harm caused by these sites as well
as priorities for remediation. Several of the participating countries
requested translation of the country database into their language so
they could maintain and build on the inventory.
The inventory is a membership database that is not open to the public
due to country sensitivities regarding the sites. However, ADB and
Blacksmith are working with the members in order to make public the
data to the extent possible in order to use them to raise awareness and
stimulate action. Some of the results and information gathered from
the project may already be viewed from Blacksmiths website.
6

Sharing and Continuity. The R-PATA team discovered that country
sharing of experiences became a by-product of the project even
though it was implemented transnationally. In Indonesia, for example,
there were many artisanal and small-scale gold mining sites. The
Indonesian team shared notes with the Philippine team on how to
address pollution caused by such activities.
The magnitude of health risks posed by sites in the current inventory
far exceeds earlier estimates. These toxic sites will have immediate
and long-term, intergenerational impacts on human health. In-
country experts and stakeholders need to maintain and build upon the
database, and use the information for domestic advocacy. External
fnancial resources will be needed, particularly for low-income
ADB developing member countries, given the scope and scale of
remediation eforts.
Related Links
TA 7395: Improving the Health Status of Vulnerable Communities Threatened
by Legacy or Artisanal Pollution. www.adb.org/projects/documents/improving-
health-status-vulnerable-communities-threatened-legacy-or-artisanal-pol
The Global Inventory Project (Global Inventory of Polluted Sites).
www.blacksmithinstitute.org/blacksmith-institute-to-lead-global-inventory-
of-polluted-sites.html
Photo: ADB Photo Library
Cancer-causing chemical wastes, such as those produced by stainless
steel factories, can leak into water supplies of villages within its vicinity.
___________________
4
Blacksmith Institute. 2011. Health and Pollution Fund Feasibility Study. www.blacksmithinstitute.org/fles/FileUpload/fles/Resources/HPF%20Feasibility%20Study.pdf
5
Blacksmith Institute. 2009. Health and Pollution Fund. www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0H9HQbD0a4
6
Blacksmith Institute. 2009. The Global Inventory Project. www.blacksmithinstitute.org/blacksmith-institute-to-lead-global-inventory-of-polluted-sites.html